The two teams combined for 80 points, 10 touchdowns and 839 yards of offense. It was something most of us didn't think was possible. Sure Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff looked good in Week 1 against Indianapolis, but he struggled in a Week 2 loss to Washington.
Meanwhile, the Kyle Shanahan led San Francisco 49ers had put up a grand total of 12 points without a single touchdown in the first two games under his watch.
What gives? Was this a product of two bad defenses being exploited on Thursday Night Football? Could these two offenses be much better than we give them credit for? There's a lot of questions that need to be answered from a fake football aspect as these two teams headed into their Week 4 slates.
One thing is readily apparent here. Whether it's Shanahan in San Francisco or fellow first-year Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, these coaches are putting their offenses in much better situations to succeed. That's an absolutely big deal, especially when it comes to the fantasy football world.
For the Rams. It's the stunning progression we have seen from a second-year quarterback that looked absolutely lost under Jeff Fisher last season. After completing 22-of-28 passes for 292 yards with three scores on Thursday, it's becoming readily apparent that Goff is a fantasy-relevant option. At the very least, a QB2 for teams that have fallen trap to horrendous quarterback play.
Goff is completing over 70 percent of his passes on the season. He's currently on pace to put up 4,350 yards to go with 27 touchdowns. Those are, in fact, QB1 numbers. Whether that translates to the long term remains to be seen. But it's also apparent that he has the weapons necessary to succeed. Both Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods went for over 100 yards on Thursday's thrilling 41-39 win over San Francisco.
Meanwhile, by virtue of Goff's ability to succeed through the air, Todd Gurley is no longer fining eight-men boxes thrown his way. It's something we saw on a consistent basis last season in Los Angeles. With more holes to run through, Gurley has definitely upped his game.
On Thursday, he put up 149 total yards and three scores on 33 touches. Now, through three games, Gurley has already matched his touchdown total from last season and is on pace to tally over 2,000 total yards. Those numbers might not be sustainable, but he's most definitely now back in the top-five fantasy running back conversation.
From a 49ers perspective, we're going to have to see if Thursday's offensive onslaught was an outlier or not. Sure the team look completely lost on this side of the ball over the first two games. But that makes some sense considering we're talking about Xx new starters on offense and a completely now system under a first-year head coach. Maybe, just maybe, it came together for good in Week 3.
Realistically, Shanahan is right up there with McVay as two of the best young offensive minds in the game. The tape tells us this. Him putting his players in the best situation to succeed tells us this. Then again, Brian Hoyer and Co. continue to leave plays out there.
On the first play of the game, Hoyer threw a simple route to Marquise Goodwin. It called for a double move from the receiver, who had beaten the defender and likely would have gone for a touchdown. Instead, Hoyer threw it short and right into the hands of Nickell Robey-Coleman.
Then, later in the game, Hoyer missed a wide open Pierre Garcon for a pass that likely would have gone for a touchdown.
Despite these issues, San Francisco was still able to put up five touchdowns and north of 400 yards of offense. Hoyer completed 23-of-337 passes for 332 yards with three total touchdowns and that one pick. It will likely enable him to finish as a QB1 option in Week 3.
Surely, Hoyer is not a fantasy-relevant player. Maybe he's a low-end buy depending on matchups in the DFS world, but he's not rosterable.
The same can't be see for Carlos Hyde and the aforementioned Garcon, both of whom continue to impress. Hyde went for 94 yards and two touchdowns on 28 touches. This comes on the heels of a Week 2 performance in which he put up 143 total yards against a stout Seahawks defense. Hyde is now on pace to tally 1,600-pls total yards and 11 touchdowns.
Remember, this is the same player who ranked 14th among running backs in fantasy points last season despite missing three games to injury. He now has a coach in Shanahan who led Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman to RB1 production in Atlanta last season. Hyde is a big-time, high-ceiling running back moving forward this season.
Based primarily on his ability to catch the bal (one drop on 114 targets with Washington last season) and a lack of other receiving options in San Francisco, Garcon can now be seen as a WR2 option. He put up seven receptions for 142 yards on 10 targets Thursday. Garcon is now on pace to catch 85 passes and tally over 1,300 receiving yards on the season. Again, he's a WR2 option.
We're going to want to see how these two offenses perform moving forward. But if Week 3 was any indication, there are a lot more fantasy-relevant options on the Rams and 49ers than we could have imagined prior to Week 1.